Businesses Should Pay Attention to Website Design

Practically everyone owns a website today but most certainly not every one of these is performing well. While some folks are simply content to be able to say they own a website even if nothing is really happening on the site, others need theirs to grow their businesses but have not taken the time to really evaluate their site’s design as a whole.

It is therefore common to find folks who own websites that are seriously under-performing but have absolutely no clue as to what could be the reason for this. While there are professionals who can help you sort this out, having a good understanding of what a website truly is and what the term website design entails will put you in a good position to understand and appreciate the type of help you require and also make it easier for you to choose the right professional to help you handle the issue.

In this article, we shall, therefore, focus on explaining what this term means, the different components that make it up and how to find professionals that can help you fix any issues you may have with your site.

Understanding Website Design

What exactly do we mean when we say website design? This refers to every process that results in what you see and call your website. This includes a front-end layout and graphic design and back-end coding and development. You can read about it here.

Let’s now discuss these two aspects of web design.

Front-End Layout and Graphics

This is the part that everyone sees and interacts directly with. This has to do with color choices, graphics, images, layout, navigation, and other visual elements. This is the part that deals with user experience so we can understand why this is what a lot of people think a site consists entirely of.

This is simply as a building with a lovely architectural design and painting. Everyone will comment on how lovely and breathtaking the house is because that is simply all they can see. It is important to note here that a lot of people refer to this aspect of the process as web design and the next aspect of the process as web development.

Back-End Coding and Development

Continuing with our analogy above, though everyone can only see and appreciate the beauty of the exterior and at most the various rooms and facilities within (user experience), professionals know that the exterior, rooms and facilities that others are excited about are supported by a framework that many may never see.

This is exactly what the back-end coding and development is to a website. This is where the functionality of the site is determined. If this aspect is lacking, then regardless of how beautifully laid out the external look is, it will be of no real use.

You can read the difference between web design and development here: https://www.lifewire.com/web-design-vs-development-3468907.

The two aspects described above have to be properly taken care of to have a site that is lovely, easy to use and very functional.

Other Important Components to Consider

Aside from the two components described above, there are two other important factors that will affect a website’s ability to deliver the desired result. These two are content and optimization.

Content

This describes all the text, images, audio or video hosted on the site. This, of course, is not part of the web designer’s core task. A website, however, cannot possibly be completed if it totally lacks content. Since content describes to the visitor what the site is all about, special attention has to also be paid to it.

Optimization

This consideration factor is critical to maximizing the functions or content already present on the site and others that may be added. While content or site layout can be optimized for better user experience as we can see in this definition, the more important optimization practices are for search engines hence the term Search Engine Optimization. Some of the aspects of optimization that will need to be taken care of include:

• Page loading speed.
• Organizing a navigation bar.
• SEO steps that begin with stipulating dedicated keywords to be targeted.
• Adding a site map for search engines.

Within some of the points listed above are several smaller steps which we will not go into in this article. What we simply wanted to achieve is to show you a few important things that should all be working together to get your website working at its best at all times.

Getting Started

If you are serious about getting the most from your online real estate, then it is important that you start the process correctly. If however, you’ve already gone past this point and already have a functioning or live site from which you are not getting the kind of result you want, you can remedy this.

In any of the two cases described above, the solution is getting in touch with professionals who can either setup your site from scratch or redesign what you already have for greater efficiency.

So how do you determine who is a professional and if such an individual or company can really get the job done? Here are some simple steps to follow:

Ask for Referrals of Search Online

The first thing to do is to get a list of potential providers. You can do this by searching online or asking your contacts for referrals. Once you have some suggestion, you can move on to the next stage.

Visit their Site

If someone is going to make my site more effective, I should be able to see how effective their own site is.

Reach Out

Once you have shortlisted those that their sites look promising, contact them and get the following information from them:

• Past clients that have worked with.
• The results they have recorded on their site and those of their clients.
• The extent of the services they can offer and the cost.

Once you are able to get these answers, you should be able to decide on which of the companies to move ahead with. Remember that your web design is critical to the success of your online business.